Tips on how to wean off of Paxil (paroxetine): Bad withdrawal.

I believe so yes, time on the med must be a factor along with some other variables, the determine how easy/tough it is to wean off.

I don't know if you're still on this thread a year later but....I am down to 20 mg from 40 also.
I am a little anxious but my biggest complaint is an overall achiness and cold/hot flashes.
My doctor doesn't think it is related but it began during my tapering period.
I am thinking of going back up to 30 mg to see if it helps.

If you truly suffer from depression and anxiety rather than tapering off Paxil find an antidepressant that works best for you. I tried Remeron and had terrible results.
Depression and anxiety don’t just go away on their own. You have to realize that it is a condition that you have to treat your entire lifetime. Cycling in and out of depression is no way to live your life.
I wish you the best of luck.

20 years on paxil. I worked until 1.5 years ago. Tried to go off and crashed. Couldn't sleep for months. Many people have tried and failed to get off it even though it was not working any more. Facebook group call antidepressent ssri withdrawal support. Also one called Managing SSRI Withdrawal.

I'm on my third month of tapering off just 10 mg and have found that when I feel anxious, I just get up and move...simple as going to local Walmart and walk for 1/2 hour. One more month to go and have fingers crossed.

Doctors just are not going to admit to the horrible effects these medications cause when trying to discontinue. They never have and never will. It’s unconscionable that they get away with this. They were lied to by the pharmaceutical companies and we are or have suffered for it.

You must do this with a psychiatrist of doctor with considerable experience in dealing with your discontinuation process. I am 71 years old and was on Paxil for 34 years. My doctor, in what turned out to be an act of malpractice put me on a 30 day discontinuation schedule and transitioned me to Wellbutrin as I weaned off. It has been a nightmare. 4 months later, after the shock from too-rapid Paxil discontinuation I have been on and off Wellbutrin, hydroxyzine, and am now on my 3rd week of Buspar, 15mg per day and at the end of this week will have been on Zoloft, 25mg. In addition, I am taking lorazepam to deal with the worst effects of the anxiety on an episodic basis while letting the Buspar deal with anxiety on the more long term basis. What you are doing is survivable, and probably a good idea. Paxil has the worst record for discontinuation for any of the SSRI's. But you must do it under the careful management of competent medical professionals. Best of luck to you-I would not with what has happened to me on anyone.

I have been on Paxil for at least 30 years. I tried Prozac for one moth at the beginning but it gave me palpitations. I added Wellbutrin after about 10 years when I still experienced mild depression. But I had to go off it for the last ten years because I moved to the UK and it is only prescribed to stop smoking. Now I want to reduce my Paxil (40 mg) very slowly and maybe switch to Zoloft when I get down to about 20 mg because it is better for your brain. I have gone down to 37.5 for the last 2 months and sometimes feel a little depressed. I hope in another month I can go down to 35 mg. It's important to lower it by tiny amounts very, very slowly. I had to get a new prescription for the smallest dosage so it's easier to cut in half. When you get to a lower dose, you will feel the drop even more than at the beginning because it's a bigger percentage. I wish good luck to everyone who tries to get off Paxil. It's the hardest one to get off according because it has a short half life compared to other antidepressants. If I can't get off it I will just stay on the dosage I need to keep me feeling good.

@teacherbuilder55 I just don’t understand how people that truly suffer from depression continue to try to get off SSRI’s.
Depression is just like any other disease. Would you stop taking insulin if you had diabetes? Would you stop taking medication if you had high blood pressure or a statin if you had high cholesterol.
Thank God the pharmaceutical companies have come up with these drugs so people that suffer from depression can live a normal life. Depression doesn’t just disappear on its own. It continues for your entire life. You might cycle in and out of depression but what a horrible way to live your life.
Clonazepam and others in that family get the same comments but is it better to live with crippling anxiety the rest of your life? Depression is a disease just like cancer and heart disease. The sooner people realize than the the ones that truly suffer from this horrible disease will stop fighting it and get the help they need. How many people do we have to lose to suicide to finally get that?
Hopefully people finally wake up. I know too many friends of mine that have lost sons and daughters because they were to afraid of the stigma to get help or stopped taking their medications because they thought they had beat depression.
Depression is like alcoholism. You never stop having it but you learn to control it.
Good luck to all those who suffer from this debilitating disease. Please seek help and find the medication combination that lets you live a happy and long life.

I agree with you on many points about this issue, why would you want to stop using a medication if it can help you, however I don’t think it’s as cut and dry to be honest. There are more and more treatments available today to treat many mental health problems but they also come with huge side effects and cause symptoms that sometimes outweigh the benefits they provide. I find that most people don’t complain about being on medication per say but rather the way the drugs make them feel, some of these drugs are known to cause suicidal tendencies especially with the younger generation and that’s profound, then there’s so many other horrible symptoms that you have to endure to stay on them. Of course there’s success stories too but not enough, why else would people get off their medication if it’s working for them? Also, many people try to stay on the course and go back to the doctor because they’re suffering and then they are given more medication to counteract the symptoms, it’s truly a vicious cycle and I sincerely speak from experience. This tragic situation has many sides to it and you can not put everyone in the same place, the medications we have are trial and error and we are the test subjects, for every new drug they put on the market another drug is removed and so it goes on and on until perhaps one day we will finally have the right medication that works without suffering any further pain and damage.